Fairytale Untold
by Geniusgirl The Original
Summary: Gain allies, defeat evil, win the Princess and tame the Dragon. Not necessarily in that order. The tale of Seto Kaiba's life in stages of all the things left unsaid and undone; of changes negligible and inevitable; of princesses and towers.
1. The Beginning

**AN: **So...it's been a few years, eh? I'm back for a little while. This story has been partially written on my hardrive since 2007. I've published the first two parts on my LiveJournal fiction account and now finally its making way to FF.

To the original OTP. Written for the LJ community 30_quills.

**Fairytale Untold**

**{Part 1/3}**

**{1} No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.**

At age fifteen, Seto can hardly keep his head from spinning. He remembers – through a vague and hazy mist – how he's gotten to where he is but it's a difficult thing to comprehend. It doesn't make sense, he thinks, because this – _this, _here, that he's become – is nothing like what he wanted. Nothing like he expected.

He owns his own company. He's his brother's _parent_ now and he's world famous. But it isn't the fame that blurs his vision. He can deal with that. He's had _training _for that. Nor is his dilemma a result of the overwhelming responsibility or the money. It's something inside _him _that screams and rails against how he's gotten here, to this point of no return_._

Once upon a time, in a time before Yugi Motou, he had thought he was happy. He was content and his life was, to him at least, easy enough to deal with. As in the fairytales he'd read to Mokuba when they were younger, Seto had vanquished the evil that he had himself brought into their lives. He'd paid for his sins and was making his way forward. It was a drive to give Mokuba – and, to an extent, himself – back all the things they had lost. He had never consciously considered himself Machiavellian.

Now, standing on the edge of a tower and being chewed out by an enraged (all of a sudden startlingly pretty) girl for having used a terrifying and underhanded means to an end, he realizes that he had learned more from his adoptive father than he had initially thought.

**{2} I just want to flee from this nightmare and never return.**

At sixteen he realizes that he has lived the past four years completely oblivious to the fact that his story, that awful train wreck of a fairytale-gone-wrong that is his life, is far from over. He has not, in fact, vanquished _anything_. That horrid, looming sin of his is still present and he is no longer the only one being abused. Mokuba has – finally – found himself in the thick of things whereas, previously, he had remained on the fringes.

It is a horribly, horribly _frightening_ thought.

He does the only thing he can do and he pushes forward. He moves onward – constantly, constantly onward – and pushes everything out of his way. He pushes every_one_ out of his way. They do not know, they cannot help. _She_ cannot help.

Anzu Mazaki, for all her good intentions and peculiar attachment to his family, cannot make this right through faith alone. If it were that simple… If it were that simple, he would willingly step into those open arms that look for all the world like escape, like waking from this nightmare that his life has become, and let her handle it.

He has faith in her faith but it will get them nowhere at the moment. So he pushes onward, through the flimsy physical, iron-willed barrier she makes and continues on his quest. His life is not a conventional fairytale but, occasionally (not _now, _not frequently, not when there is Mokuba to save), he dreams of a princess in a tower.

**{3} The past shapes the future.**

When he is seventeen he discovers things he doesn't believe in. Things he refuses to believe in because there is no way, _no way_, that this is what they say it is. He is not the reincarnation of an Egyptian priest, he did not fall in love a with duel monster and he is not inextricably connected to Yugi Motou. He refuses.

They try their might to convince him but what can he do about it? It is an explanation at best. He can change nothing. The past is over and done with. The antiquity of the events themselves make them meaningless. Even if they were significant, they cannot be undone. Had he that power he would never have met Gozaburo Kaiba, he would never have dueled Yugi Motou and he definitely _would _have asked Anzu out long before Yugi grew a backbone enough to draw her attention.

He sees things through to the end, however, because he has no choice. He watches Yugi duel himself (perhaps the oddest thing he has ever seen) and watches the Yugi that looks like the duelist Seto knows he's faced walk off into (as they tell him) the afterlife. And Seto's world has yet to alter. He feels as stable as ever and thinks that, even with an explanation, the life he lives now remains the same.

He is wrong, of course.

**{4} In a world without words.**

The day they travel back to Domino, it's his eighteenth birthday. Yugi and friends skipped school to make the trip while Seto makes appearances at school rather than actually attends. They use the Kaiba Corp jet because… Seto doesn't know why he gives them the ride home; it's become habit to tote them around by now anyways. Somehow, because Mokuba isn't there this time, he finds himself seated beside Anzu on the hours-long trip.

Four hours into the flight, he wakes to find everyone else is asleep except for the girl who is supposed to be beside him. He barely spots her reflection in one of the windows and, without really thinking about it, moves toward her.

He knows why she's crying. That version of Yugi, that was the one she liked. It bothers him a little, though perhaps not as much as it should. He is attracted, yes, but he's not attached. When she notices him, she swipes futilely at her cheeks and stares hard out the window. He has no words nor any intention of speaking. He simply stands there, unconsciously blocking her and the reflection she casts, from view of the others. She cries for ten more minutes.

When she's done, he casts one assessing glance in her direction and, finding that she is indeed composed, moves forward, pushing past her toward the cockpit. He is two steps away from her when she speaks.

"Happy Birthday, Kaiba-kun."

**{5} Every moment hesitated is a moment gone from life.**

Still eighteen, he lets Mokuba coerce (bribe, plead, threaten, trick) him into attending the remains of his final year of high school. He does and is startled by the fact that he is now considered one of them. It proves to be less taxing than he thought it would be, having friends. They seem to have learnt enough about him to know when to push and when to pull and when to leave it be.

Jounouchi is the only one who keeps pushing his buttons and Seto surprises himself by actually enjoying the pointless snark (in which he is consistently the one with the upper hand). Honda proves to be more than just a strange hairstyle. The boy knows a thing or two or twenty about mechanics and motorcycles and Seto owns a garage full of them so, oddly enough, Honda becomes his fastest friend.

He treads carefully around Ryou Bakura, unsure of the boy who led him to Egypt. In the end, the foreigner is deemed a harmless and a likewise quiet individual in a generally boisterous group. With Yugi, they are the ones who spend hours talking about Duel Monsters. Seto respects Yugi and theirs is a muted, easy friendship.

Of course, none of them know that this is where they stand. They know that something is different, they do not know that this the position. They would probably faint if they did.

Lastly, there is Anzu. Where there is Anzu, there is attraction, mystification, emotion and all round confusion. Seto avoids it so they never really progress beyond polite small talk and sitting in the same group talking to other people. When graduation rolls around, he feels something like regret for what could have become in the time wasted.

**{6} The tragedy called history will just be repeated.**

On Anzu's eighteenth birthday there's a post-graduation fete at the game shop that ties in with her "real" birthday party. She has another one, for all kids in their class and all the kids she knew in school, that Seto does not attend.

He sits in the tiny shop – expanding now, he thinks, briefly considering approaching Jii-san about a contract with Kaiba Corp. After all, the combined fame of Yugi Motou and Seto Kaiba would ensure customers for years to come – and listens to his _friends_ chatter on. He wonders when he'll wake up because this – this normality and contentment – is not a feature of his life story. Still, everyone is smiling and laughing and Seto feels his own cheeks and realizes that he too is smiling (though it remains closer to a smirk).

Then it happens; the crash. After the cake (she stuck it with Mokuba before he fell asleep upstairs), they sit around a table and drink because they're finally all old enough (Jounouchi ribs Anzu about holding them back from the finer pleasures in life and she frowns at her beer bottle telling him that if this is a finer pleasure, she'd take a fat one, thank you very much. Seto hides his smile behind his hand as he takes a swig of his own beer). Someone, Jounouchi again probably, asks where they think they'd all be in ten years because that's the kind of thing you were expected to talk about at gatherings like this.

They all have their dreams, none of which are news but all of which seem so much more real (and threatening) because they're one step away from them now. She's headed to off to some dance school in America and he allows himself no hope because the country is huge. Then, they get to him and he does it. He rips the happy page out of his calamitous fairytale.

"We all know where Moneybags'll be in ten years," Jounouchi said. "Not like he isn't set for life already." And he raised his bottle in salute. "Ten years from now: here in Domino, CEO of Kaiba Corp – still – and married – for the third time – to some famous supermodel, eh?"

For a moment, Seto looks at Anzu who smiles straight through everything, including the marriage comment. Her eyes stare off into the distance past Yugi's shoulder. He shrugs and murmurs, "If I come back."

They're all looking at him now, curious and slightly disturbed. Honda asks, "Meaning?"

"Kaiba Corp has expanded to America. I've been advised to shift headquarters to New York. There's a fresh market and it needs the best attention. If you want something done right…" The silence stretches as they take it in. He hadn't known how much the stability of Kaiba Corp meant to them. Hadn't realized they thought of him as a rock before that. It was flattering and almost moving to think that they depended on him like that. But again, he'd never show it.

"When?" Her voice cuts through the hush gently.

He stares at her for while, looking for a sign of anything on her face and finds she's learnt to wear as mask as unreadable as his. He glances around the table, at the waiting faces, and tells the truth, "Not before Christmas."

That releases some of the tension. It's not tomorrow or next week and they have time so they're ok. Later on, as he retrieves Mokuba from Yugi's guestroom, they cross paths in the cramped upstairs hallway. The space seems far too small far too quickly.

She watches him for a minute, looks at him with Mokuba in his arms, then smiles softly. In a low tone, she thanks him for coming. He nods at her and they remain for just a moment too long. Then, like all the times before, he pushes past her and moves onward.

**{7} The roads might be different, but the place we end up is the same.**

At age twenty-two he sees her again, by chance, in a fancy little Irish grocery store in New York. Mokuba is not with him (school is stricter here) and he recognizes her all by himself. He doesn't know what compels him but he winds up standing behind her in the wine aisle and tapping her shoulder. She turns and he knows she recognizes him instantly. She smiles brightly and he remembers how pretty she can be as she hugs him. When she pulls away, he notices how beautiful she's become.

They make small talk as they shop, he purposely keeps browsing despite being sure he's gotten everything he wanted, and when they approach the cashier, he invites her to dinner. With Mokuba, because the younger would love to see her again. She tells him tonight is bad – he eyes the bottle of wine she's picked up – but would Friday be ok? Friday, of course, is even better as Mokuba won't have school the next day.

On Friday, Seto and Mokuba find out that Anzu graduated last year and now dances full time with the American Ballet Company. Seto has been up to the usual, along with earning his degree from Harvard. She asks how he had the time, she'd been hearing about KC America for years. Mokuba rolls his eyes and says, "He's a workaholic as usual, Anzu."

Later, the three of them sit out on the balcony because the air is pleasant, the sky is clear and the Kaibas' apartment is high enough above the city lights to allow a glimpse of the stars if you squint. She and Mokuba talk like old friends while Seto goes to get drinks. When he comes back, he hands Mokuba a Coke (he may be seventeen but he's still too young to drink during term time) and hands Anzu a beer. She raises her eyebrows at him and he shrugs, drinking from his own bottle.

"Strange, isn't it," she asks Mokuba, "how we both took different paths but wound up in the same place?"

Mokuba nods and when she looks up at Seto, he knows she's talking about more than New York. His is a contemplative, "Hm."

**{8} I only want your happiness, knowing I can never be yours to share it.**

Mokuba invites her to dinner (or lunch or whatever) often. Seto is present on most occasions but business will keep him some days. He is glad that he misses the day she tells Mokuba she's engaged. They had known about her boyfriend, of course. An American dancer in her company named Robert. She seemed happy and Seto thought her commitment dispelled any of the undercurrents that might have lingered in their friendship.

They'd existed like that for nearly a year. Robert has never met the Kaiba brothers and, for a while, it seemed as though their time with Anzu existed in a bubble. Which is what made Seto wary. Bubbles, he knew, were prone to bursting. Anzu popped this one with a none-too-inexpensive solitaire diamond.

Mokuba is hesitant to talk to him about her visit that night, as though he fears Seto's reaction – a completely absurd paranoia, Seto thinks, because what could they possibly say to anger him now? When Mokuba blurts it out, Seto can't move.

He's not angry, he's not surprised, he just feels…empty. Then he shakes himself and wonders why he should feel that way about the engagement of a woman he hasn't felt anything but friendship for in five years. He looks at his brother, who is studying him closely, and tells him that he's glad. He wants her to be happy and he'll send congratulatory flowers and card around first thing in the morning.

On the phone the next morning, he almost sends marigolds. Catching himself, he sends peonies instead.

**{9} Those words were larger than any sin, and sweeter than any punishment.**

In June of his twenty-third year, she marries. Her side of the church – she marries in a church despite the fact that she is not Christian, despite the fact that she had always dreamt of a traditional Japanese wedding – is full with friends and family and colleagues and the boys from Domino have rights to all of the second row behind her parents, nieces and brother-in-law. Seto sits among them, between Yugi and Mokuba, and watches.

The wedding itself is a lavish affair; Anzu's parents are far from penniless, he learns. The women present tell him it is beautiful (_so beautiful_) through dainty handkerchiefs and nearly pretentious tears. He supposes that, had he appreciation for flower arrangements and lace and silk and sentiment, he would think so too. Instead, he thinks to himself that there is but one beautiful thing in the gothic church and that is the bride.

At the reception he situates himself at the far end (or at least what he perceives to be the far end) of the circular table and listens disinterestedly through the speeches made by the grooms' side. Anecdotes about Robert as a child do not interest him, neither does the retelling of the day the man realized he was in love with Anzu. The Best man's speech has no meaning whatsoever.

When it is the bride's side turn to speak, her father does first. Seto can picture her a spunky four-year-old running circles around the tall, dignified man and almost smiles. The speech is concise but real and it makes Seto wonder if he will love his daughters like that, should he ever have any. Her sister is next and there is something in the way her speech is structured that hints at some sort of guardedness, some sort of quiet regret. It is subtle, though, and Seto thinks he might be the only one who notices it until he looks at Yugi.

Then Yugi himself speaks and it is even more obvious that something is amiss. Seto can see Anzu trying not to frown now, her face no longer the beaming picture of happiness it was moments before. It persists through Honda's and Jounouchi's toasts although what exactly is wrong with the day is not evident and he lets it go because, after all, she is laughing at Jounouchi's joke and Seto just might be hallucinating again. The people here (including the Ishtar siblings and Ryou Bakura) haven't all been in the same room since they were teenagers and they are known to mess with his head.

Finally, Mokuba toasts on behalf of the Kaiba brothers. "To Anzu, friend and savior, because you've always put your all into making everyone else happy and keeping us all safe. For the docks, the road and the tower; if this makes you happy, may it last forever."

The groom frowns as their table (and only theirs) laughs and toasts more sincerely than they have all night. Then Seto stares at the smirking Mokuba.

_If this makes you happy__…_

Something about that doesn't sound like the happily ever after her story deserves.

**{10} The line between friendship and love.**

After the wedding, the boys (men now, really) go home and Seto's life continues almost as normal. However, there is no more arriving home to the sound of Mokuba and Anzu's laughter and the sweet, if not somewhat _strange_, smells of their combined efforts in the kitchen. She's on her honeymoon and Seto tells himself he does not miss her. She is not – and never was – his to miss.

Mokuba, on the other hand, has no qualms about it. Funnily enough, about a week after she departs, the phone rings around noon on Sunday. As she "checks in with her little brother", Seto can't help but raise his eyebrow at her having found time to call them (of all people). If he were Robert, she would hardly have breath to speak much less the time to call.

He blinks then and swears to never think that again. She is a married woman and he has been over this for years.

Mokuba ends his phone call with, "Sure, I'll tell him. I love you too, Anzu. Have fun."

"You shouldn't say those things to her," Seto tells him when the receiver is off. "I doubt her husband will appreciate it."

Mokuba looks at him hard. Looks at him in a way that makes him acknowledge the fact that the younger is now a man in his own right then replies, "_You_ shouldn't. I can; it doesn't mean the same thing."

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Seto asks.

Halfway down the hallway, Mokuba calls back, "There's a difference between love and friendship, Nii-san."

**TBC**

As always, comments and constructive criticism are much appreciated!


	2. The Middle

**AN:** Another previously written chapter. This may a have a few errors that I've never gotten around to fixing. My apologies for those and for whatever strikes you as being overly-contrived.

**IMPORTANT:** There is some discussion of STDs and the dialogue does convey stereotypical myths that applied in the 1990s and early 2000s. Some of these views were held by a large part of the population and, for all I know, probably still are. No offense is meant and the author, FYI, does know better. But that doesn't mean the characters have to.

Again for the LJ community 30_quills. Enjoy!

**Fairytale Untold**

**{Part 2/3}**

**{11} The truth never changes.**

Anzu returns to New York on Mid-summer and surprises Seto by calling him directly. His cell phone goes off mid-presentation and he takes the call out of sheer shock. She's the happiest he's ever heard her and partly because there are people demanding his attention, partly because some deep-rooted, aching part of him doesn't want to listen to her joy at another man's touch, he tells her that he's busy but - honestly - he's glad that she's back safely. She takes it in stride knowing, he thinks, that it is a work day and that he is still running a company.

When he gets home, Mokuba tells him they're having dinner with Anzu and Robert on Tuesday, behave himself. Frowning, Seto asks himself when it was that he became unable to understand his younger brother. Tuesday's dinner never comes.

Mokuba is too _old _to be kidnapped again. He's a grown man now; he's had all the self-defense classes possible, he can take care of himself. Seto doesn't duel anymore. He's not like Yugi, he's not a tournament duelist anymore. Not unless it's his tournament and he hasn't hosted one in _ages_. Come to think of it, over the past few years, Duel Monsters has become less a way of life and more of a living for Seto. He follows it, he makes money off of it but he has more to live for now.

Yet, Mokuba _is_ kidnapped again - correction: to be politically correct and not offend the young man's ego, he's _held hostage _- and flown back to Domino where there _is_ a tournament being held. Seto gets a video (and when he tells this to Yugi, the man shudders and says, "Pegasus.") but it isn't from Pegasus or anyone they've faced previously. In fact, this is about the least supernatural thing to happen to them since Siegfreid.

He's walking out of his building's elevator when she bursts through the lobby doors. Alone and obviously in the know, she shoulders a small duffle bag and waits, determination and defiance at the ready, for his reaction. He walks up to and then past her. "Come on."

The trip to Domino is mostly spent on the phone. He contacts Kaiba Corp headquarters (he's never honestly moved it. Domino always has and always will be its home) and arranges security and surveillance and searches while she calls her husband. She explains the situation to him to the best of her abilities and Seto overhears her telling Robert in an almost pleading tone to try and understand, Mokuba is like a brother to her, she can't not be there.

Whatever response she receives, it's hardly to her liking. She tears into her new husband in rapid and vulgar Japanese that Seto (finds amusing) is sure the man - who is only now learning the language - cannot follow. Eventually, she glances at him, blushes and calms down. In a colder and more definite tone, she tells her husband that she _is _on the Kaiba Corp jet, she _is _going home and that she will be back soon.

There is silence until she says into the phone, "Of course I love you, Robert. I love you more than anything but please try to accept this."

Seto draws his attention away immediately. This is not something he should hear, it is not something he _wants_ to hear.

"Robert, my friends are important to me," she says. And _that_, Seto believes, is an unchanging and universal truth.

**{12} Resistance is futile.**

By the time they land there are already strategies in place and plans being partially executed on the ground. Honda meets them at the airport and takes them straight to Yugi. If he is or isn't surprised by Anzu's appearance beside Kaiba, he doesn't show any sign of it. He greets them both like he expects them.

The tournament is set up in such a way that they wind up walking Domino in a very Battle City like fashion. They duel and it's almost laughably one-sided. These - he, Jounouchi, Bakura and Yugi - are the kings of Duel Monsters, the eternal rivals for the top slots. The foolish lackeys sent out to "stop" them are years too late to be shocking. If they'd been around at the time of the Rare Hunters they might have stood a chance but now they can do nothing but drop like flies under the combined efforts of duelling giants.

Finally, they make it to the top of the ladder after tedious, time-consuming duels. The three men are leftover ex-Big 5 underlings whose ambition has inflated due to Seto's absence from Domino. Seto wonders how come they hadn't already been weeded out as they spout odes to the glory of the original Kaiba Corp, the weapons maker, and denounce Seto's transformation of the company. They despise him for associating it with a mere children's card game; despise him for spending millions on a new branch dedicated to medical research and engineering while operating at a loss. Why would he do that?

Her voice rings out clear across the duel arena, startling them all. "Because he's a decent person! Unlike you, he's not some disgusting old fart who can't get his rocks off without maiming some poor kid!"

'_Maiming some poor kid__…_' rings in his ears.

She's livid and halfway in tears and Seto swivels around to see why. Draped over her shoulder, battered and bruised almost beyond recognition but in one piece and obviously alive, is Mokuba. The others - Honda, Otogi, Mai and Shizuka - have arrived with her and despite the males' efforts, she refuses to relinquish her hold on the younger Kaiba.

For a moment, Seto stands there and watches her not caring how much time passes. She is bruised herself (what did they - she - go through to get Mokuba?) but she glares, eyes unwavering and hateful, at the man who dared hurt her precious… _brother_, Seto's mind provides.

_Brother-in-law_, Seto decides. He has fought himself long enough and it has gotten him nowhere. Even if he didn't before, he knows where his heart stands now.

Turning back around, he faces his enemies with Yugi on his right, Jounouchi on his left and Anzu behind him.

"I suggest you give up now," he tells them, "Your trump card is lost."

They do not listen, of course. In the end the final attack is Yugi's but the monster is the Blue Eyes. Before it is launched the ring leader screams questions at him. How will he survive when he is done mismanaging their precious corporation? What will he have at the end of the day?

His gaze rests on his brother then, subtly, on Anzu and answers clearly, "Everything I need."

**{13} Lost in a dream.**

The aftermath is surreal. This is the first time - and perhaps it will be the last - that they have ever worked together like that. They gather at Mokuba's hospital where those that need (Anzu, Honda and Otogi) get their superficial wounds treated before the lot of them await the verdict on the battered young man.

He is fine, they are told, the damage can be fixed. An arm, a leg, a few toes and his collar bone are broken, he is practically a walking bruise but the blood - all that flowing, copious amounts of red - they saw came from superficial scrapes. It is nothing life threatening. As a unit they breath a sigh of relief.

They take their leave one by one, slowly and seemingly unwilling to part with the sense of true camaraderie that makes them all slightly high. Jounouchi and Mai leave together, as do Shizuka and Otogi. Honda, Yugi and Anzu linger but, eventually, even they have to leave. Yugi asks Anzu where she's staying since her parents are out of town and before she can reply, Seto hears himself saying, "At the mansion."

They all look at him but Anzu is the only one who looks surprised. Seto files away the 'why' to be dealt with later. He clarifies, "It's the least I can do considering," he doesn't qualify it and he doesn't need to, "And we have more than enough room."

She thinks for a moment, chewing slightly at her lower lip, then accepts his offer. They leave the hospital together after seeing Mokuba - asleep and on painkillers - one last time. When they arrive, the place looks like exactly like it used to - to Seto, who knows it; looks like it was lived in (and cleaned) yesterday - to Anzu, who doesn't. Neither is inclined to eat so Seto shows her to the guestroom beside his own.

He spends most of the night awake in bed and in the wee hours of the morning, his old fairytale comes to mind. Now, he thinks, he has truly slain the demon with the allies, the companions, he needed. His story is over now and from here on is happily ever after.

Finally, Seto sleeps in his mansion and it feels like _home_. And, as he only ever had at home, he dreams his forgotten dream of a princess in a tower.

**{14} Frozen in time.**

The next year's June, Seto is twenty-four and Mokuba is nineteen and they are the youngest and most successful men in the American gaming industry. They are men to be envied and lusted after though by now they are accustomed to this. It has been a year of rebuilding for them. Mokuba spent months in physical therapy (and one in plain old _therapy_ at Seto's insistence because who knows what a kidnapping - "_Hostage situation_, Nii-san!" - could do to your head?) and is now back on his feet. Seto's rebuilding was a little less obvious.

He has reconnected with his brother. It bothered him that, only days before Mokuba was taken, they had reached the height of their communication blockage. Now, though, they understand each other again. Except on one issue.

Anzu Mazaki-Jameson.

Seto's relationship with her remains the same as it always had been despite his abrupt epiphany in Domino. Mokuba knows - knew before Seto did - how his brother feels about her and advocates some sort of effort on Seto's part to make such feelings known. Seto, on the other hand, insists that the woman is _married_. Happily, at that. Each time he makes this claim, Mokuba snorts. Each time he asks for an explanation of the snort, Mokuba asks him if he can't see it.

Finally, about a week before her first anniversary, Seto snaps, "See what?"

"That she's anything _but_ happy, Nii-san. Why do think she spends so much time here still?"

"To see you," he replies. "She's been protective of you ever since you got out of hospital."

"Nii-san, her marriage has been on a collision course with failure since she left for Domino two days after her honeymoon," Mokuba says. "Her husband didn't take that well at all, despised the fact that she stayed at the mansion and swore for at least three months that she'd been having an affair with me until I set him straight about it."

"And it hasn't gotten any better since then?"

Mokuba laughs. "Of course not. She's been having an affair with _you_ now and there's hardly any way to set _that_ record straight. Every time she's here, he calls almost every five minutes to find out if you're here. That's why you only see her going and coming."

No matter how much he tries to, Seto can't keep the anger completely out of his voice, "And she hasn't left him yet?"

"She says she loves him," Mokuba answers and, with sadistic and justifiable smugness, watches Seto wince.

On her anniversary, Seto is alone at home when the doorbell rings. He moves leisurely, not expecting anyone, and is astonished to see the back of a familiar brunette on the monitor. He is even more astounded by her tears.

"Is Mokuba home?" she asks him. She's still standing outside in the hall and he moves back and opens the door more for her to come in.

"He isn't. What happened?" He lets his concern seep into his voice because she needs to lean on someone and he might as well be there. It has nothing to do with his feelings, nothing to do with his suspicions, nothing to do with his desire to protect her, it's only because he owes her and, on some level, they are friends. He may not be the best at friendship but even he knows that if one's friend is in tears and one has a shoulder, offer it.

"It's - it's -" she breaks off and grabs a Kleenex from the box on the foyer table (comfortable enough with the house to do so) before making a valiant attempt to compose herself. She's still sniffling when she looks him in the eye and tells him, "Robert's been having an affair."

Before he is conscious of movement, he's enveloped her in his arms. She stiffens and stares up at him. He has no idea what his face looks like but she sees something that makes comfortable enough to rest her head against his chest.

Something, somewhere, thaws.

**{15} There is more to love than only bitterness and lies. **

Thankfully, Mokuba arrives home not half an hour later and takes over the task of comforting her. Seto knows he could do all that Mokuba does but it is like Mokuba told him a year ago; there is a difference between love and friendship. Mokuba's actions are platonic and impossible to misconstrue. Seto, performing the exact same actions, would betray himself, he knows. He would slip and do something _wrong _because his affection runs deep enough to do that to him.

He lingers though, remaining with them, listening to her tell her story. His fists clench and unclench in time with her sobs.

She loves Robert? What is there to love about a man who cannot see the truth, who cannot appreciate the beauty, who cannot cherish that precious, precious, titanium affection that Anzu bestows? What kind of fool makes a woman like this cry?

"He wants a divorce," she tells them over a cup of coffee. She has stopped crying, for now. Following Mokuba's movements around the kitchen with her eyes, she continues, "I asked him why he waited for our anniversary to tell me this and he said something about 'full circle' and some shit. Can you believe that? So then I asked him who she was and get this: it's _not_ a she. It's Roger, the best man at our wedding!"

Seto watches her laugh and tremble and wonders if Robert has ever seen a Blue Eyes hologram. It may not have the effect it had on Jii-san (unfortunately, inducing a heart attack in a young and fit dancer is a bit harder than inducing a stroke in an old man with a heart condition) but it might just manage to scare the shit out of him.

"Now," she says, "now I need to get tested. Roger's a _whore_. Everyone in the company knows that and if they've been sleeping together God knows… _Oh God.__"_

Her calm façade breaks down again right there. Seto reaches out and takes the cup from her, placing it gently on the table beside his before throwing all his morals out the window. This is the woman he loves, this is the state she's in, and nothing would stop him from holding her. Or from beating the stuffing out of her husband. Later. Holding first.

Mokuba is making his way back from the kitchen already but Seto moves forward quickly. He shifts closer to her on the couch and pulls her snug against his side. Wrapping both arms tightly around her, he thoughtlessly kisses the top of her head and tells her, "You'll be fine, Anzu."

Her hands tighten on the fabric of his shirt and she really buries her face in his chest this time. Though her words are muffled by his own body, he hears them well enough to be utterly terrified. "I could be dying, Seto. I could - I could be - and he doesn't care! - My marriage is over. Everything - everything is over and," her voice is a bare whisper, a testament to her own fright, "I could be _dying_."

Ignoring the fact that she's no longer calling him 'Kaiba-kun' and he's just called her 'Anzu' rather than 'Mazaki', he tightens his grip on her and tells her, so softly that Mokuba can't hear, "You're not dying. You _won__'__t_ die. Not if I can help it."

She cries some more and the brothers spend the night alternating as her comforter. Seto sticks to this role more and more as the night wears on. She gets tired and finally they put her to sleep in Seto's room. On their return to the living room, Seto grabs his jacket and keys and stalks toward the door.

"Nii-san, where are you going?" Mokuba asks though he has a pretty good idea already.

"Out," Seto grates and the door closes curtly behind him.

Two days later, Anzu sits between the brothers waiting for the nurse to call her name. She's holding Mokuba's hand - Seto's is wrapped in bandages and he won't say from what - and shaking like a leaf. When she heads off with the nurse, Mokuba turns to his brother.

"Love sucks, doesn't it?"

Seto, eyes staring straight out the window across from them, replies, "I'm told there's more to it than Mazaki's marriage."

After a long silence in which Mokuba's eyes never lifted from his brother's tense profile, he nods. "Yeah, there is."

**{16} What are the stories hidden behind your smile?**

On his twenty-fifth birthday, Seto decides it's time to go home. He has done all he can do in New York and he has a project in mind that he can only achieve in Domino. He runs the idea by Mokuba and gets a positive response. No matter how accustomed or how fond one grew of New York or any other part of the world, Domino is home.

Of course, New York is not without its charms. Leaving New York means leaving Anzu and, as much as Seto wants to, he cannot bring himself to say anything to her. Does not declare his love, does not ask her to accompany him, does not even tell her of the decision himself. It is cowardice manifold and this is the one time it wins. He hates himself for it even as he packs boxes in November and suitcases in early December.

They leave two weeks before Christmas and she is there to see them off. Mokuba, despite wanting to go home, is beyond furious with him because of this. They should not be leaving her alone now - not at Christmas, not during her divorce. He apologizes constantly from the time she arrives at their door all the way to when he's hugging her goodbye at the gate. Seto hardly gets a word in edgewise.

Finally, over Mokuba's shoulder, she smiles at him. He wants to say something but he can't.

He knows there's a story like this one, too.

**{17} In my eyes you do no wrong.**

When he gets a chance to speak to her privately, to say his own goodbye, he is lost. What can he say to this woman? All he can think of is, "I love you, be with me." But he cannot say that. Not now. It is too late and he harks back to the old analogy of tearing pages of happiness out without even reading them. He glances away from her just briefly and Mokuba scowls at him in the distance. Well, at least it's something to say.

"Mokuba is right," he tells her, "we're leaving at a bad time."

"It won't be that bad in business class," she replies. It takes him a moment to realize she thinks he's referring to the likely flight congestion. He smirks slightly, relieved and a bit offended that she thinks he's making small talk. Another bout of silence and he is conflicted. He wants to stay, wants to go, wants to take her with him, wants her to take him wherever she wants to. Then, abruptly he decides that this must be put away. He is going and this is quite possibly The End.

It was a foolish hope anyway.

"Take care, Mazaki. And give your ex my regards in court."

She blinks at him and he winces as the melancholy settles in her eyes. She knows this is over too. She still manages to keep smiling at him though, even as she admits out of the blue that she saw her ex not long after 'that night'. He waits, apprehensive, because he hadn't really meant to pummel the man that much. To his surprise, she says, "Thank you for that, Kaiba-kun. I hope your project goes well."

He nods at her, picks up his briefcase and is about to move forward once more (to ignore the tower in front of him) when the princess lets down her hair. He barely sees her move out of the corner of his eye before her arms are wrapped around him, her cheek pressed against his.

"Goodbye, Seto."

He hugs her back awkwardly because he is still not comfortable with this kind of contact -especially with her. When she pulls back, she brushes at the wet patch on the shoulder of his suit jacket and mumbles an apology. He catches her wrist and takes her hand. If this is the end and he's going to walk around the tower, the least he can do is take a lock of her hair. He raises it to his lips and brushes a kiss across her knuckles.

"Goodbye, Anzu."

**{18} Unchanging things are boring.**

The first thing that happens when they arrive is work; Seto launches a new development project for some ideas he'd been batting around with Yugi over the phone before they left. He also arranges for meetings with the education department, real estate brokers and, of course, Yugi. His new project, a huge one by the looks of it, is top secret. His smirk when questioned is enigmatic.

When Yugi is questioned, along with the regular noise about confidentiality contracts, he gives the media, "We're building houses."

No one knows what to make of that. Seto likes it that way.

The second thing that happens is Vivian Wong. Seto finds himself in Hong Kong and, through a series of coincidences and supposedly fortunate events, he finds himself in her bed. She is attractive and exotic, exemplary oriental. She is famous and she can duel. She is a tolerable distraction in reality, a valiant conquest in fabrication. She does not fit into his fairytale and Seto thinks that maybe now is the time to let that go.

**{19} The haunting words are a gentle illusion.**

Their relationship is far easier than he expected. Vivian wants little from him but his presence at her side for their appearances and his presence in her bed for their nights. She lets him live freely and he likes it. He likes it enough to like her enough to go ring shopping. It has been a year and a half at least. Something should be done. This is a good step.

When Mokuba finds out, the younger man stares at him for a long, long while. There is a nagging feeling at the back of Seto's mind that tells him he is not considering something or someone very, very important. He is ignoring something vital, something necessary. He knows what it is but he has put it out of mind for nearly two years now. Life is not a fairytale, there are no necessary elements. Life is the pursuit of happiness. With Vivian, Seto is at least content.

They stare at each other over the breakfast table until Mokuba sighs and turns away. He places his napkin beside his unfinished meal and stands. "If this makes you happy, Seto…"

For a split second, Seto sees Anzu in her wedding dress.

**{20} The difference between love and desire.**

The wedding is set for January of his twenty-seventh year. Vivian wants to honeymoon in Australia. Seto is not picky. The dates do not clash with the opening of the Duel Academy and that was the major concern.

Duel Academy debuts to the world in July. The school roster is already full, the project having been unveiled months before so that the new year could start with a decent number of students. In August, there is a lavish party on the island to properly celebrate the opening. Seto mills about among the guests, mingling as much as he can bear to but mostly watching Vivian and Mokuba flatter their major contributors. He keeps an eye out for Yugi.

An hour in, Yugi makes his appearance. Jounouchi and Honda have come too though Seto has been informed that Bakura is on a dig in Egypt with the Ishtars. Seto is actually quite glad to find allies in this sea of minions and begins moving toward them when he stops. They are not alone.

Mokuba reacts much faster than Seto does, his enthusiasm drawing the attention of the guests. He catches up the unexpected arrival in a jovial, crushing hug. After all, Anzu Mazaki is one of his favourite people.

Later, Vivian makes her way over to Seto's side. She hisses in his ear. "Anzu Mazaki? As in the dancer from New York?"

He nods.

"What's she doing here?"

He has no answer to make to that. He does not know.

Anzu makes no move to approach him and he reciprocates her lack of action. Vivian, however, quickly makes herself known. Anzu threatens her spotlight. Dancer or not, she walked in with Yugi Motou. Seto watches the women converse, watches Vivian show off her ring and gesture in his direction, watches Anzu see him. She smiles and Seto knows, without a shadow of doubt, that this is over.

Vivian, with all her ease and exoticness, with all the contentment and peace she offers, is but a spectre of what he desires from life. But Anzu, with all her spark and charm and lovely, lovely nature, is what he loves about it and in it. _Anzu_ is what he loves. How can he settle for a hand-maiden when his princess has walked through the door, tower and all?

**TBC**

As always, feedback is appreciated!

Also, the third chapter is still being written so the next update won't be quite as soon as this one.


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